<http://openheartcreatures.wordpress.com> will perform with others at the Alternative Fashion Mob Night Show, and Grand Finale. "Fashion isn't always about pretty dresses, friends! Come feast your eyes on a runway show of local, original fashion styles." 8:00pm, June 6th: Pay-what-you-can donation at the door ($5 suggested) 18 and over. Circus, 1227 N. High. And8:00pm June 8th at 422 West State Street Warehouse. https://www.facebook.com/AlternativeFashionMob/events

June 28, 29, 30th-COMFEST!
~ Columbus, Ohio’s very own Community Festival. Join Openheartcreatures
for our 4th annual Live Arts Stage Performance, Saturday at 1:30, and
be on the lookout for other sightings as well….

Jesse Hemminger's Glowie Monsters
In this fun, hands-on
workshop participants make a small felt stuffed monster with LED eyes
that light up when you squeeze its tummy. Learn the basics of
electronics, along with sewing and soldering techniques. No previous
experience with electronics or sewing is required. This workshop is fun
for all ages and suitable for children aged 9 and up, although younger
children are welcome if they are able to sit and focus on a craft
project for 3 hours and if they are accompanied by a parent. $39 | 2 for $70. For more info.: thefusefactory.org or glowiemonster@gmail.com

Beaker Prince will
be offering opportunities to explore movement principles of the
Alexander Technique at ILLIO at a low, affordable price as she completes
complete practice hours to prepare for certification this summer.
Practice sessions are taught one-to-one (couples and small groups can be
accommodated if requested) , are 45-50 minutes in length,and will be
scheduled at ILLIO on selected afternoons. Beaker is offering these
practice lessons at a sliding scale of $10-$20 ($5-15 for full-time
students, or a time bank hour for members of the Care and Share Time
bank.)Please contact Beaker at beakerbee@yahoo.com if you would like to schedule a practice lesson. More information can be found on her website www.yogadirections.com.

The term "stress" in its common usage was popularized by psychologist
Hans Selye who put animals under unusual or extreme conditions
(starvation, worry, fatigue, cold) to record the physiological
consequences. He demonstrated that various circumstances can produce
overwhelming stress which breaks down a body's mechanisms leaving it
open to a variety of diseases. A rat forced to swim in cold water until
the edge of drowning was more likely to get infection or suffer other
apparently unrelated ailments.

We
may often feel we are the subject of arbitrary experiments of a
pitiless psychologist, that our health and wellbeing are deteriorating
as barely achievable demands are made of us from work and family, or as
the extremes of discomfort are reached.

We all have ways of
reacting to stressors that allow us some temporary ease, but they often
produce new stressors over time. We can be like a injured patient
addicted to pain medication. The initial tool for coping is now a larger
problem because it never giving us what we really need to heal.

Most
conditions that give rise to our stress are not lethal in themselves.
They become destructive because we react in a self-destructive way, not
knowing what else to do. Stress is largely a psychological phenomenon.
It is the feelings of anxiety or depression that we produce in
particular situations. As such, it is transformable. If we can train
ourselves to "respond" rather than "react" to the conditions we find
ourselves in, we can learn not to give rise to stress, and will then
have better clarity to change those conditions themselves.

In his classic book Full Catastrophe Living,
Jon Kabat-Zinn writes succinctly, "You have the power to affect the
balance point between your internal resources for coping with stress and
the stressors that are an unavoidable part of living. By exercising
this capacity consciously and intelligently, you can control the degree
of stress you experience. Moreover, rather than having to invent a new
way of dealing with every individual stressor that comes up in your
life, you can develop a way of dealing with change in general..."(p.238)
The central element in the movement from reaction to response is
awareness to the present moment where the exchange between the
conditions we encounter and the stress we experience occurs.

In
our meditation and discussion this month, I suggest we reflect on "the
opposite of stress," the experience of non-stress. Let us consider the
methods we can use to attain this. We can learn how stress arises and
what we would like to experience in its place.

According to the short Arañña Sutta (SN
1.10), a shining forest spirit approached the Buddha when he and his
disciples we're resting in Jeta Grove. Knowing that the Buddha and his
students ate only one meal a day, she asked how it was that they were so
healthy and radiant? The Buddha replied,

They sorrow not for what is past,

They have no longing for the future,

The present is sufficient for them:

Hence it is they appear so radiant.

By having longing for the future,

By sorrowing over what is past,

By this the unwise are withered up

As a cut down tender reed.

Let us, together, find the present sufficient and learn this practice of radiance.

*As
we have in the past, we will sit for two 20/25 minute sessions with
quiet walking in between, and time for every participant to talk before
and after. Then we'll have tea! Those new to meditation are welcome to
join and participate as much as they feel comfortable.

*If you need a responsible person to watch your kid(s) so you can participate, send me a message (seth.josephson@gmail.com, or fb, or at 614-499-3350). I want to help make sure this quiet practice is accessible to parents.

Artist A.K. Burns + A.L. Steiner are bringing a feature-length
sociosexual video in our own city/town/village! These world renowned
artists will join us in our humble studio to share their provocative
video project. We're very honored!

*Community Action Center (2010,
DV, TRT 69 mins.) incorporates the erotics of a community where the
personal is not only political, but sexual. This project was heavily
inspired by 1970’s porn-romance-liberation films which served as
distinct portraits of the urban inhabitants, landscapes and the body
politic of a particular time and place. Community Action Center is a
unique contemporary womyn-centric composition that serves as both an ode
and a hole-filler. Sex, sexuality and the complexities of gendered
bodies are inherently political. This project is a small archive of an
intergenerational community built on collaboration, friendship, sex and
art. The work attempts to explore a consideration of feminist fashion,
sexual aesthetics and an expansive view of what is defined as ‘sex’. The
video seeks to expose and reformulate paradigms that are typical of
porn typologies, intentionally exploiting tropes for their comical
value, critical consideration and historical homage. The artists have
created a reason to reflect on the cultural realness of homo-grown
lesbian sexuality, and the work aims to be a hedonistic and distinctly
political adventure.

Burns and Steiner worked with artists and performers who created
infinitely complex gender and performance roles that are both real and
fantastical, set to a soundtrack of music culled from the worldwide
sisterhood: Chicks on Speed, Effi Briest, Electrelane, K8 Hardy,
Lesbians on Ecstasy, Light Asylum, MEN, Motherland, NGUZUNGUZU, I.U.D.
(Lizzi Bougatsos & Sadie Laska), Kinski and Thee Majesty (Genesis
P-Orridge), and featuring original compositions by Justin Bond, Nick
Hallett & Sam Greenleaf Miller, Ashland Mines & Wu Tsang, Sergei
Tcherepnin and Tri-State Area with AV Linton.

In 2012, Burns and Steiner completed their fundraising campaign to
raise money for this self-funded US tour with the help of USA Projects
andover 300 supporters who pledged their donation in support of this
project. Burns and Steiner look forward to presenting the video
in-person in 16 cities nationwide.

"Queer
sex requires creativity, a commitment to your entire body as a sex
organ. Don’t assume anything. Sex should be a process of creativity and
invention. We believe that queer sex and feminist agency is a shared
acknowledgment of reciprocal penetration—physically, psychologically.
The universe wants us to play."http://dismagazine.com/discussion/9725/community-action-interaction/

In the beginning, the Buddhist teaching was
said to be, "Easy to understand, immediately effective, and inviting
inspection for those who are wise." What did that mean? Can we still
connect all the pieces to this wonderful puzzle?

Buddhist nun, Sister Khema, will
instruct what suffering is; how and why we suffer; what the Buddha
taught about the end of suffering, and then how to use the Noble 8-Fold
Path to practice the Buddha's teaching with both gradual and immediate
results. This is an opportunity for each of us to gather in the threads,
reset our own loom, and begin to reweave our own magnificently balanced
colorful Dhamma cloth.

Ven. Sister Khema trained under and continues to work with Venerable Bhante Vimalaramsi Maha Thera.

Morning
sessions - Sister Khema will lead us in some readings and we will share
one or two 30 minute meditations. People are welcome to attend any or
all mornings.

Evening sessions - will begin with a 15min meditation, followed by a talk and Q&A. Each
evening talk will build on the last so participants are encouraged to
attend all evenings. Tuesday's talk will not be at 13 E Tulane because
of a time conflict there. The Tuesday location will be announced on
Monday.

This retreat is based on dana (generosity). We will accept donations to go toward the costs of hosting Ven. Khema.

Queer
Yoga is Columbus's first queer-focused yoga class that offers
professional yoga instruction in a designated Safe(r) Space. We endeavor
to cultivate an atmosphere of acceptance and community in all we do,
from sun salutations to post-yoga snack time. Whether you are new to
yoga, or you can complete a headstand without assistance, you will find
something to challenge and deepen your practice.

Class fees are $6 for ALL participants. Everyone is welcome. Bring a mat.

The Marxist Literary Group is in town for their annual Summer Institute on Culture and Society: http://mlgics2013.wordpress.com/ Marxists,
since Gramsci, have been aware of the importance of cultural work in
the re-imagination of society, but they have rarely discussed
"technologies of the self" that we could use to transform the particular
forms of alienation we experience within capitalism. I (Seth) will be
giving a paper at the MLG conference on the political philosophy of the
Buddhist monk/activist Thich Nhat Hanh and hope some of the other
attendees will join us at Illio Studio Monday evening for a special
meditation and discussion on creating a new way of being in the world by
beginning with our own self-awareness.

*As
we have in the past, we will sit for two 20/25 minute sessions with
quiet walking in between, and time for every participant to talk before
and after. Then we'll have tea! Those new to meditation are welcome to
join and participate as much as they feel comfortable.

In
this fun, hands-on workshop participants make a small felt stuffed
monster with LED eyes that light up when you squeeze its tummy. Learn
the basics of electronics, along with sewing and soldering techniques.
No previous experience with electronics or sewing is required. This
workshop is fun for all ages and suitable for children aged 9 and up,
although younger children are welcome if they are able to sit and focus
on a craft project for 3 hours and if they are accompanied by a parent.